Pictures posted on Bryton Mellott's Facebook page over the weekend showed him holding a burning American flag

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An Illinois man's flag-burning protest has led to his arrest on Independence Day on charges including flag desecration.

Pictures posted on Bryton Mellott's Facebook page over the weekend showed him holding a burning American flag, captioned with a lengthy message giving reasons as to why he was "not proud to be an American."

"I do not have pride in my country. I am overwhelmingly ashamed and I will demonstrate my feelings accordingly. #ArrestMe," he wrote in the post that has since been removed. It was captured in a screen shot by NBC affiliate WWBT before it was taken down.

A lengthy now-deleted written post accompanied a gallery of images showing the 22-year-old posing with the American flag as it went up in flames. (Source: Facebook/Bryton Mellott)
Photo credit: NBC12 / Facebook / Bryton Mellott

His profile picture holding the burning flag remains.

By Tuesday afternoon, the image had been shared on the social media site nearly 12,000 times.

Urbana police were alerted to the post and say officers noticed commenters threatening Mellott and his employer, Wal-Mart. Police say after speaking to both Mellott and Wal-Mart, Mellott was taken into custody out of concern for his safety.

Wal-Mart says it's cooperating with the investigation.

The 22-year-old Mellott is set to be arraigned Tuesday afternoon. He hasn't returned a request for comment.